Little Citizens #3: Captain of India's Team

Rohan's grandmother had a favourite chair, right in front of the television, and every evening at the same time she settled into it to watch the news, tea in hand, glasses perched on the end of her nose.

"Grandma, who's that man they keep talking about?" Rohan asked one evening, climbing onto the arm of her chair. "The one everybody says is 'leading the country'?"

His grandmother set her tea down and thought for a moment, the way she always did before answering a good question properly. "You know how your school cricket team has a captain?"

"Yes! Arjun is our captain. He decides the batting order and talks to the umpire."

"Well, think of India as one enormous team, with millions and millions of players. That team needs a captain too, someone to lead the game plan, talk to the other important people, and take responsibility when things go well or badly. That person is called the Prime Minister."

Pause & Wonder:

• If you were the captain of India's team, what's the first thing you'd want to fix or improve?
• Why do you think a good captain listens to their teammates instead of deciding everything alone?

"But how does someone get picked to be captain of a whole country?" Rohan asked. "Our captain got picked because he's the best batsman."

"It's a little different, but not so different either," his grandmother said. "Remember I told you about voting? Every few years, people across India vote for the party they trust most to run the country. Whichever party gets the most members chosen into the Lok Sabha then picks its very best leader among them to become Prime Minister, the way your team might vote among yourselves for who should really lead."

"So you helped choose him?" Rohan asked, wide-eyed. "Just by voting?"

"I did," she smiled. "Last election, I stood in a long queue outside my old school, just like when I was a girl, and marked my ballot paper for the party I trusted most. Millions of people did the very same thing, all across the country, all on the very same day."

"And then he picks his team?"

"Just like a captain does. He chooses helpers called ministers, one to look after schools, one for hospitals, one for roads, one for farms, each person handling the part of the game they know best, exactly the way your captain puts your fastest bowler at one end and your best fielder near the boundary."

Rohan looked at the man on the screen a little differently now, imagining him not as a stranger in a suit, but as somebody's captain, chosen the way Arjun had been chosen, except by an entire country instead of one small team.

"Do you think he's a good captain?" Rohan asked.

His grandmother sipped her tea, considering. "Some decisions I agree with. Some I don't. That's allowed too. Being captain doesn't mean everyone always agrees with you. It means you keep trying to help the whole team do well, together."

Did You Know? The Prime Minister lives and works in Delhi and leads meetings with all the other ministers to run the country's day-to-day work.

New Word for You — PRIME MINISTER: the leader of India's government, chosen by the members of the Lok Sabha.

The Magic Lesson: A good leader isn't the loudest voice, they're the one who helps the whole team win together.